Iranian Fugitive Banker Sentenced to 30 Years in Jail: Official

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Mahmoud Reza Khavari, a former top Iranian banker who fled to Canada after committing a massive fraud, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison, the head of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court announced.

Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency, Hojatoleslam Ghazanfarabadi said Khavari has received a 20-year jail term for “disrupting the economic system” of the country and also sentenced to ten more years in prison for receiving a bribe.

He has also been sentenced to pay a large fine equal to the amount of the bribe, the official stated.

Earlier on Saturday, the head of the Justice Department of Tehran Province, Gholamhossein Esmaeli, announced that verdicts have been issued against Khavari and three other defendants in the case.

Esmaeli also told Tasnim that the verdicts are not final yet and that after they become final, the Justice Department will make more serious efforts to secure his extradition back to Iran via the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).

Khavari, said to hold dual citizenship and own a home in Toronto, fled to Canada after a $2.6 billion financial fraud came to light in 2011.

The embezzlement case started in 2007 by Amir Mansour Arya Investment Company, and developed in 2010 after some Iranian major banks, including Bank Saderat and Bank Melli, granted loans to the company.

Although Interpol has placed Khavari on its Red Notice Wanted list, efforts to extradite him to Iran have gone nowhere so far.